Danni Nicholls

From her earliest years in Bedford, U.K., singer/songwriter Danni Nicholls absorbed American folk, country, and rock through the records her grandmother kept. At sixteen she inherited a vintage short-scale jazz guitar built by Burns London from her uncle, an instrument that steered her naturally toward that same roots tradition. Her abilities as a performer and writer matured rapidly, prompting her to start performing live across the U.K. In 2010 she issued her debut EP, Heavy Shoes. The next year a mutual acquaintance in London arranged an introduction to Nashville producer Chris Donohue—the Civil Wars, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant—who was then traveling with Emmylou Harris; Donohue responded favorably to her songs and offered to bring her to Nashville for her first full-length recording. There, accompanied by veteran studio musicians, she and Donohue shaped a layered set of soulful country and Americana that evoked the work of Rosanne Cash and Patsy Cline. That same year she also collaborated in London with producer Iain Archer—Jake Bugg, Snow Patrol, Tired Pony—on the four-song EP Time, issued in early 2013. Following her signing to Transmission Records, the Donohue-produced album A Little Redemption appeared later the same year.